Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction
Carbon fibers (CFs) are a crucial material for lightweight structures with advanced mechanical performance. However, there is still a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the environmental impacts of production. Previously, mostly singled-out scenarios for CF production have been assessed, of...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Polymers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/16/1/12 |
| _version_ | 1797358258466324480 |
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| author | Tobias Manuel Prenzel Andrea Hohmann Tim Prescher Kerstin Angerer Daniel Wehner Robert Ilg Tjark von Reden Klaus Drechsler Stefan Albrecht |
| author_facet | Tobias Manuel Prenzel Andrea Hohmann Tim Prescher Kerstin Angerer Daniel Wehner Robert Ilg Tjark von Reden Klaus Drechsler Stefan Albrecht |
| author_sort | Tobias Manuel Prenzel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Carbon fibers (CFs) are a crucial material for lightweight structures with advanced mechanical performance. However, there is still a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the environmental impacts of production. Previously, mostly singled-out scenarios for CF production have been assessed, often based on scarce transparent inventory data. To expand the current knowledge and create a robust database for future evaluation, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out. To this end, a detailed industry-approved LCI is published, which also proved plausible against the literature. Subsequently, based on a global scenario representing the market averages for precursor and CF production, the most relevant contributors to climate change (EF3.1 climate change, total) and the depletion of fossil energy carriers (EF3.1 resource use, fossil) were identified. The energy consumption in CF manufacturing was found to be responsible for 59% of the climate change and 48% of the fossil resource use. To enable a differentiated discussion of manufacturing locations and process energy consumption, 24 distinct scenarios were assessed. The findings demonstrate the significant dependence of the results on the scenarios’ boundary conditions: climate change ranges from 13.0 to 34.1 kg CO<sub>2</sub> eq./kg CF and resource use from 262.3 to 497.9 MJ/kg CF. Through the investigated scenarios, the relevant reduction potentials were identified. The presented results help close an existing data gap for high-quality, regionalized, and technology-specific LCA results for the production of CF. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:59:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-56f02c6d320544d29552975568adbbcf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4360 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:59:18Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Polymers |
| spelling | doaj.art-56f02c6d320544d29552975568adbbcf2024-01-10T15:06:32ZengMDPI AGPolymers2073-43602023-12-011611210.3390/polym16010012Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for ReductionTobias Manuel Prenzel0Andrea Hohmann1Tim Prescher2Kerstin Angerer3Daniel Wehner4Robert Ilg5Tjark von Reden6Klaus Drechsler7Stefan Albrecht8Department Life Cycle Engineering GaBi, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569 Stuttgart, GermanyFraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV, Am Technologiezentrum 2, 86159 Augsburg, GermanyInstitute for Acoustics and Building Physics IABP, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 7, 70569 Stuttgart, GermanyFraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV, Am Technologiezentrum 2, 86159 Augsburg, GermanyDepartment Life Cycle Engineering GaBi, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment Life Cycle Engineering GaBi, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569 Stuttgart, GermanyComposites United e.V., Oranienburger Str. 45, 10117 Berlin, GermanyFraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV, Am Technologiezentrum 2, 86159 Augsburg, GermanyDepartment Life Cycle Engineering GaBi, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569 Stuttgart, GermanyCarbon fibers (CFs) are a crucial material for lightweight structures with advanced mechanical performance. However, there is still a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the environmental impacts of production. Previously, mostly singled-out scenarios for CF production have been assessed, often based on scarce transparent inventory data. To expand the current knowledge and create a robust database for future evaluation, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out. To this end, a detailed industry-approved LCI is published, which also proved plausible against the literature. Subsequently, based on a global scenario representing the market averages for precursor and CF production, the most relevant contributors to climate change (EF3.1 climate change, total) and the depletion of fossil energy carriers (EF3.1 resource use, fossil) were identified. The energy consumption in CF manufacturing was found to be responsible for 59% of the climate change and 48% of the fossil resource use. To enable a differentiated discussion of manufacturing locations and process energy consumption, 24 distinct scenarios were assessed. The findings demonstrate the significant dependence of the results on the scenarios’ boundary conditions: climate change ranges from 13.0 to 34.1 kg CO<sub>2</sub> eq./kg CF and resource use from 262.3 to 497.9 MJ/kg CF. Through the investigated scenarios, the relevant reduction potentials were identified. The presented results help close an existing data gap for high-quality, regionalized, and technology-specific LCA results for the production of CF.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/16/1/12carbon fiber productionenvironmental impactslife cycle assessment (LCA)life cycle inventory (LCI) dataenergy analysisscenario analysis |
| spellingShingle | Tobias Manuel Prenzel Andrea Hohmann Tim Prescher Kerstin Angerer Daniel Wehner Robert Ilg Tjark von Reden Klaus Drechsler Stefan Albrecht Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction Polymers carbon fiber production environmental impacts life cycle assessment (LCA) life cycle inventory (LCI) data energy analysis scenario analysis |
| title | Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction |
| title_full | Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction |
| title_fullStr | Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction |
| title_short | Bringing Light into the Dark—Overview of Environmental Impacts of Carbon Fiber Production and Potential Levers for Reduction |
| title_sort | bringing light into the dark overview of environmental impacts of carbon fiber production and potential levers for reduction |
| topic | carbon fiber production environmental impacts life cycle assessment (LCA) life cycle inventory (LCI) data energy analysis scenario analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/16/1/12 |
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